God, you've just identified what I saw a few years ago here. The nastiest looking think I've seen - I had no idea their sting was so bad!
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Wasps are Evil!
- Thread starter Narj
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God, you've just identified what I saw a few years ago here. The nastiest looking think I've seen - I had no idea their sting was so bad!
No idea why but over the last couple of weeks the amount of wasps where I live has gone nuts. Was at the park yesterday having a BBQ and there was a swarm of the little ***** harassing us. I was stung a lot as a kid and have an innate hatred for them that causes me to go a bit nuts when they start skimming me... much to my friends amusement and derision. I can calmly deal with many things, but wasps and spiders are not among them. 
No need for that. I even let them on my plate for some nosh. I guess that the Portuguese ones are far more relaxed than the English ones. Not surprising really given the weather we have.
No need for that. I even let them on my plate for some nosh. I guess that the Portuguese ones are far more relaxed than the English ones. Not surprising really given the weather we have.
No need for that. I even let them on my plate for some nosh. I guess that the Portuguese ones are far more relaxed than the English ones. Not surprising really given the weather we have.
I find the ones in Portugal are very mild mannered too. They are more interested in our well water than us / food.
I do get stung the odd time, but that's usually when I've accidentally stepped on one
Those ones are dead (hence the blacker colour) but the yellow one is alive.
The Tarantula Hawk is bigger, but the Giant Asian Hornet is more aggressive, bad tempered, and hurts more. Most people stung by hornets in Japan and China go into anaphylactic shock.
These are the buggers that fight tarantulas, sting them to paralyse them, then lay their eggs to hatch and eat the spider:
This just goes to show what pansies we Brits are
Soldato
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This just goes to show what pansies we Brits are
I don't think Asians go around fighting giant hornets with swords and kung fu either.
... right?
Hornets are worse
The stingers on those things are long enough to go right through that guy's little finger!
Had to kill a couple of wasps with fire over the weekend... blowtorches are great
Next doors garage has a nest in it - the number of wasps going in and out under the guttering.. the funny thing is our garage is a few feet across the same wall and guttering. The younger wasps keep head butting the wrong bits of the guttering
There's always a group hanging around the outside but I can't reach the entrance from our garden with foam..
Got buzzed by a hornet in spring, it's the very low very loud buzz that's a big give away - that and the big set of eyes in your face. Was a queen looking for nesting sites I think.
The wasps have cleared the garden of insects.. no aphids on the sun flowers, the fennel flowering is keeping them busy too atm.. but soon the flowers will have finished and it will be havoc as they're then going to go for anything they can eat.. They land on our pond lilies to have drink..
It wouldn't surprise me if the OP's battle was a was that took too much on - or perhaps attacked when the dragon fly got too close to their nest.
Hate wasps but they do eat bugs.. but when they've eaten everything.. then they go nuts :/
There's always a group hanging around the outside but I can't reach the entrance from our garden with foam..
Got buzzed by a hornet in spring, it's the very low very loud buzz that's a big give away - that and the big set of eyes in your face. Was a queen looking for nesting sites I think.
The wasps have cleared the garden of insects.. no aphids on the sun flowers, the fennel flowering is keeping them busy too atm.. but soon the flowers will have finished and it will be havoc as they're then going to go for anything they can eat.. They land on our pond lilies to have drink..
It wouldn't surprise me if the OP's battle was a was that took too much on - or perhaps attacked when the dragon fly got too close to their nest.
Hate wasps but they do eat bugs.. but when they've eaten everything.. then they go nuts :/
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Associate
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If those things were buzzing about in your back garden, you'd burn your house down and move. Admit it
Man of Honour
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As someone with a phobia of bees/wasps/hornets, some of the pictures in this thread are the stuff of nightmares for me. I've gotten a lot better of the years in that I don't run away screaming any more, even if they get a few feet from me, but the panic definitely sets in if they start buzzing around me. When that happens prepare for a Davey-shaped hole in the nearest door/wall/window.
Yes, they eat pests and pollinate stuff. Very useful indeed.
But they're basically drunk (on rotten fruit alcohol), white turkeying junkies (not getting their sugar hit from the queen anymore) with stings come August and September. The rest of the year, they're fine.